Florida men robbed graves of veterans because they have ‘stronger spirits,’ sheriff says
Deputies found shed with religious shrine and seven skulls
Thomas Metevia, Digital Content Producer, Orlando
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MOUNT DORA, Fla. – Two men are behind bars after what deputies say was a grave robbery for ritualistic purposes, targeting veterans’ burial sites “because the spirit is much stronger in a hero.”
The men, 43-year-old Brian Montalvo Tolentino and 39-year-old Juan Burgos Lopez, were arrested in Polk County after deputies said they broke into four separate graves and took body parts from each person inside.
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The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said the vandals attempted to access a fifth grave. The remains were stolen in early December from Edgewood Cemetery at 3333 Britt Road.
By Gordon Byrd
Jan 8, 2021
MOUNT DORA Two Polk County men, a former police officer and a convicted felon, are facing charges after Lake County deputies say they desecrated five graves in a cemetery, four of which contained the remains of military veterans.
Lake County detectives say the desecration occurred at the Edgewood Cemetery, a historically African-American cemetery, December 6th. Crime scene investigators collected various items left at the gravesites, including cigars, and collected DNA. This led them to Brian Tolentino, 43, of Davenport. He pointed them to Juan Lopez of Lake Wales. They say Lopez told them the men opened the graves and removed the skulls of five people in a religious ritual.
By Gordon Byrd
Jan 8, 2021
MOUNT DORA Two Polk County men, a former police officer and a convicted felon, are facing charges after Lake County deputies say they desecrated five graves in a cemetery, four of which contained the remains of military veterans.
Lake County detectives say the desecration occurred at the Edgewood Cemetery, a historically African-American cemetery, December 6th. Crime scene investigators collected various items left at the gravesites, including cigars, and collected DNA. This led them to Brian Tolentino, 43, of Davenport. He pointed them to Juan Lopez of Lake Wales. They say Lopez told them the men opened the graves and removed the skulls of five people in a religious ritual.
DNA from cigars led deputies to two Polk County men who allegedly stole the remains of four veterans, taking them into a "religious shrine" inside a Lake Wales home where human skulls and other bones were found.